Quote Originally Posted by cgrafx View Post
Richard, is there a reason for not wanting to move to a software solution?

you already own SAW and SAC, all you'd need are the preamps and computer interface.
Yes, as I mentioned somewhere back in this thread, I do have both softwares and a few old ADA8000s and a 3M monitor. (I have been at the studio and live mix game a long time and have never divested myself of any "leftover gear", so have a lot lying around ). I had fully intended to go the SAW/SAC route in the studio, and have "fooled around" with the setup, even running a couple of faux sessions to see how it would go. The problem is, I found the monitor navigation functions to be... let's say not "dependable". I would get unexpected actions from finger motions. And I practiced in the house for some time with the monitor to get the motions correct. I just felt uncomfortable with it.
If your considering the PreSonus your already moving to a digital console with latency.
That's something I hadn't considered.

SAC as a software only solution is far more capable then the PreSonus board in every aspect except the physical faders and even that is pretty easy to mitigate with a small control surface.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of the layer methodology of accessing higher track counts. I rarely need more than 32 tracks, and never more than 50 (I know... but if that's what the producer wants, that's what (s)he gets <LOL>), so the StudioLive 32 looked like a reasonable solution.

The least expensive route would be 4 behringer ada8200's and an RME RayDAT card (should cost about $1400, easily less than $1000 if you buy second hand).

If you go to something like the MOTU 8M series stuff you can run USB which will support up to 64 channels In/Out.

My live rig is 32 in/32 out. I record on this all the time. Its dead simple to fire up SAW studio. My default settings already have SAC link engaged. Just launch SAC and then SAW Studio Arm channels and I'm ready to record.

I just made the switch to the MOTU 8M boxes on my live rig in order to have AVB support to use as a digital split. This makes it so I don't have to use our hardware splitter when we do shows where FOH is supplied. Just plug everything in as we normally do, and I can give a fully buffered split to the FOH, no mic splitter required.

I'm still currently running the RayDAT card as the interface to the computer, but have a parallel AVB network running to supply FOH or other feeds as needed.
These are all good suggestions, but as I said above, I have all the necessary hardware and software.

I'm currently exploring Thunderbolt options as an alternative to the RME card, but I won't make that jump until I deploy my new motherboard with Win10.
I will be very interested in reading how you make out with that setup. I'm due for a new computer at the very least (mine is 10 years old and 32 bit).

Latency in to out is just shy of 6.5ms. If I move to USB or Thunderbolt I believe I can get that number down under 4ms. Nobody has ever complained or had any concerns about that delay. I run my system at 48kHz and 1x64 buffer size. System resources run around 22%. Thats 32 active channels in and out, Stereo two-way FOH and 5-7 stereo Monitor Mixes.
Very impressive.

In the Studio I'm running a similar ADAT setup with a pair of RME 9652 cards and a mix of preamps (mostly MOTU at this point), but I was using Mackie and Behringer in previous configurations.
I also have an RME 9652 card in my house computer. Good devices for sure. Thanks for your informed input and suggestions. I suppose I may end up going the SAW/SAC route in the end.

Good looking live rig, by the way!!!